City clothing company gives boost to high school dance program

After a successful show held at The Gateway, the FreeMotive clothing company has been looking for opportunities to support the creative community in Calgary.

Through the use of social media, Andre Amante, founder of FreeMotive, found out that the funding for the fine arts programs at Bishop McNally had been drastically cut.

As an alumnus of Bishop McNally, Amante wanted to help out in any way possible.

“McNally was a school known for its fine arts. In the past years, we even influenced other schools such as Father Lacombe to create a dance program,” said Amante.

“It’s unfortunate that the efforts from other alumni are coming undone.”

Due to the shortage of funds the students of Bishop McNally were put into the position of choosing to have either a dance class for the year, or a dance team.

“Competition is what we look forward to every year so choosing the dance team was the obvious choice,” said Abraham Presto, a grade 12 student and co-captain of the Bishop McNally dance team.

Each year, Bishop McNally’s dance team choreographs an urban street dance set to enter a high school level competition called Extra Credit.

Extra Credit is hosted by Pulse Studios and invites schools from all over the city such as Bishop Grandin, Bishop McNally, Father Lacombe, St. Marys, Notre Dame, and Lester B. Pearson to compete head to head.

It’s unfortunate that the efforts from other alumni are coming undone. – Andre Amante

Amante and the FreeMotive executive team took it onto themselves to help by sponsoring Bishop McNally with custom black and gold jerseys.

“It’s awesome to see alumni give back to the community and providing positive mentorship and support,” said Jessica Lee, a teacher at Bishop McNally and supervisor of the dance team.

Lee was grateful for the sponsorship and said the students would’ve been forced to hold fund-raisers for their outfits.

“It was the least we could do and all the kids really seemed to appreciate it,” said Amante.

“Helping people pursue their passions is what the FreeMotive team is all about.”